16 Jul 2002

Fiji sugar cane farmers will march on Wednesday despite police threats of arrest

5:39 pm on 16 July 2002

Fiji sugar cane farmers and supporters say they will hold a protest march tomorrow at the 77 nation African, Carribean and Pacific summit, despite police threatening to arrest them.

Mahendra Chand from the Nadi branch of the National Farmers Union says a thousand people from the Togo-Levusa villages will take part in protest at poor roads that have isolated them.

Mr Chand says the protest march will be a peaceful.

"They've got a genuine reason. There's not something bad that they should be locked up or something like that - because they have a genuine reason. They don't have a road and the bypass road they're using is closed.Setimes even the school children can't go to school and the workers , they can't come to work. so they just want to march peacefully. But if they're arrested - is a very sad day, because they just want to show their disappointment."

Mahendra Chand